The Best House
by MidniteWish
Summary: Gryffindor. Slytherin. Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff. The debate on just which is the best house has lasted for centuries and has yet to wane in its intensity. Now, it's time for a new generation of Hogwarts students to take up the torch of house pride. The winner however, is not what anyone expected, and the consequences may be much more far-reaching than anticipated. Humor. Three-shot.
1. The Best House

**Slytherin is supposed to be for the cunning and ambitious. So why was it that no Slytherin plan ever seemed to succeed or included even a modicum of sense? The near black and white separation of good and evil in the books offended me, and got me thinking. This is the result. Will probably have three parts. **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their rightful owners.**

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><p>"…Slytherin is the best house."<p>

The blond had been extolling the virtues of Slytherin house for twenty minutes now and Harry had had more than enough. While he didn't agree with the beliefs some held about Slytherin being the house of evil, neither did he want to hear a twenty minute speech about how superior it was compared to others. It was the blond's misfortune that Harry had Marauder blood in him.

"Why is it the best house?"

The blond opened his mouth to answer, but Harry bulldozed on.

"You said Slytherin is for the cunning and ambitious. Which everyone else in the world interprets to mean that you desire power and will stop at nothing to get it. Which means everyone will be constantly on the lookout for underhanded plots from Slytherins, making it that much harder for any plan of yours to succeed. People will be wary of allying with you, as they will always be waiting for the double-cross. Having friends will be a pipe dream. In turn, this means what allies you do manage to get will be much more likely to betray you. After all, they're simply doing unto you what you will ultimately do to them."

"But-" the blond made to protest.

His efforts were once again ignored.

"People will be hesitant to place you in any positions of power, for fear that you would abuse your power to further your own, selfish goals. Even if you do achieve a position of power, people will not respect you as they will believe you only manage to attain your position through dishonest means. Furthermore, _three_ of the four houses holds anti-Slytherin beliefs. Therefore simply being sorted into the Slytherin house alienates you from seventy-five percent of the population. Any potential support you may receive will come from the twenty-five percent which is least trusted and least likely to hold power."

By now, the blond's face was an unflattering shade of red as the insults being given to his favorite house and the lack of respect being given to him roused his anger.

Harry continued blithely.

"So in effect, being in Slytherin would prevent any of your cunning from being utilized and any of your ambition from being realized. How is Slytherin the best house then if simply being sorted into the house renders the very reasons of your sorting useless?"

The blond's mouth worked uselessly a few times as he struggled to come up with an appropriate answer.

Harry delivered his final words of wisdom, "Being sorted into Hufflepuff on the other hand…"

Then, with those parting words and a jaunty wave, Harry turned and left the shop, whistling tunelessly. Today was going to be a good day. He just knew it.

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><p><strong>Please review! What did you guys think?<strong>

**Next part should be posted next weekend. **


	2. The Sorting

**Sorry for the late update! I had guests over and didn't get a chance to post. **

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners.**

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><p>In the month he had before school started, Draco thought often about the words of the black-haired boy. The first few times, the memory did nothing except incite fierce anger and indignation within him. After that however, he couldn't help but think that, <em>just maybe,<em> the words had some modicum of sense to them.

While _he_ knew Slytherins weren't all evil, backstabbing, power-hungry, dark-lords-in-training, the rest of the world often thought otherwise; especially so soon after the whole nasty business with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. As a Slytherin-to-be, he knew very well the power of reputation and, much as it pained him to admit it, the reputation of Slytherin house wasn't up to par for what he hoped to accomplish in life.

Many restless night had been spent pondering this problem and he had finally settled on a course of action mere days before school was to begin.

Now, as he picked up the ratty old hat and moved to put it on, he could feel his heart trying to jump out of his chest with nerves. All that thinking would be for naught if the Sorting Hat didn't cooperate. After all, no one quite knew exactly how the hat decide-

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Draco let out a sigh of relief. The Sorting Hat evidently was fooled by his concentrated thinking of Hufflepuffish thoughts.

As he moved towards to Hufflepuff table, delayed applause and furious whispering broke out simultaneously as the hall of students tried to adjust to the impossibility of the _Malfoy heir_ being sorted into _Hufflepuff_.

Draco smirked.

In the entrance-way, a black-haired, green-eyed boy broke out into laughter.

Ten minutes later, utter silence again enveloped the Great Hall as Harry Potter moved to join his housemates at the Slytherin table.

As whispers overtook the hall by storm once again, Harry sought out a pair of astonished silver eyes from across the room, and winked.

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><p><strong>AN: Review please! Short chapter, but interesting turn of events, no?<strong>

**Next chapter should be up weekend after this one and should be longer.**


	3. The Aftermath

**AN: I apologize for the extremely late update. I have a whole new appreciation for those authors who can keep up with their update schedules. It seems that only once you start writing do you realize how demanding life is and how difficult it is to write simply because you sat down to. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the waves the boys have made!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to their respective owners.**

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><p>"Potter."<p>

Harry looked up to see Draco stalking purposefully towards where he leaned casually against the bookshelves, a stony look upon his face.

Harry grinned, "Call me Harry."

Draco didn't seem to appreciate Harry's good cheer however, and his glare intensified.

Harry was abruptly reminded of the school motto, '_Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus__' _('Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon'). It was good advice really, doubly so when the dragon was awake and already angry.

Harry made a brief attempt to smooth his face into impassivity before giving it up as a lost cause.

It was a week into the school year and Harry was having the time of his life. Amazingly, school was turning out to be even _better_ than he'd imagined.

It had started with the unprecedented sorting of a Malfoy into Hufflepuff, and the Boy-Who-Lived into Slytherin.

Harry had thought it amusing. No one else seemed to agree.

The school had been in a complete uproar with a plethora of students calling for a re-sort and was the Headmaster sure the hat wasn't going senile in its old age?

The Gryffindors and Slytherins had, in fact, _worked together_ to petition for Harry and Draco's resort into the houses which they obviously belonged to. Evidently the Slytherins' desire to keep _Harry Potter_ in their house wasn't enough to prevent them from compromising with Gryffindors so as to increase the chances of getting the Malfoy heir in his rightful house. All efforts thus far had been met with twinkling blue eyes, offers of lemon drops, and a gentle but firm "No." Last Harry heard, they were working on Petition #3, and attempting to involve the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Personally, Harry thought their efforts were unlikely to succeed even if they did manage to unite all four houses in their attempts and Hufflepuff at the very least, was too nice to join a petition asking to kick out one of their members.

Intense though the reaction of the school had been, the reactions of the world at large had been no less impressive. The news had traveled to the world beyond the castle walls at the speed of light and the first day of school had seen Harry and Draco featured front and center on the _Daily Prophet_. The day after that had seen two howlers being dropped off during breakfast in the Great Hall. Ironically, in an effort to make sure that their sons understood exactly how severe and unacceptable the current state of affairs was, James Potter and Lucius Malfoy had been loud enough that no one could hear clearly what either howler had said. Harry's feelings of amusement had then increased exponentially when the Weasley twins, both Gryffindor third years, had loudly begged him and Draco to teach them their "superior ways" before the echoes from the howler's had even died down. Apparently even the infamous pranking duo had never gotten a howler on the second day of classes, though certainly not for lack of trying.

All in all, the grin Harry wore was well on its way to becoming a permanent fixture.

"_Harry,_" his costar in the unfolding drama spat, apparently not appreciating Harry friendly gesture, "why are you in_ Slytherin_?"

"Well," he mused, "the Sorting Hat said I would do well in all four Houses because I was brave like Gryffindor and loyal like Hufflepuff and sought knowledge like Ravenclaw and cunning like Slytherin and I thought '_why not?_'"

"W-why not?! Why not?! You're in Slytherin because you just casually decided to be?!"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Draco sputtered incoherently in response.

"B-but, what about everything you said about Slytherin hindering you from achieving your ambition and betrayal and-and-"

"Well, when I saw how much fun you throwing away everything you've been taught was, I couldn't _not_ join in. Am I glad I did too! This week has been more fun than I've had…ever!"

"But what about all those reasons you mentioned about Slytherin being bad?" Draco cried.

"They're still true, but what's life without obstacles? Anyways, you're doing everything you can to fulfill your ambition and I felt bad I didn't have such a worthy life goal. But I'm not interested in politics and whatnot, so while you slither your way into becoming Minister of Magic, I thought I'd remake the image of Slytherin House. How does viciously loyal sound? Or how about eternally resourceful?"

Draco gaped at the raven-haired boy, then bidding his companion a short "goodnight", he left for the comfort of his four-poster. Maybe things would make more sense after a good night's sleep. Maybe.

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><p>The following Saturday, Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter entered into secret, magically binding, formal alliance.<p>

Evidently, Draco thought it prudent to ensure that he and the incomprehensible force of nature that was Harry Potter were always, always on the same side.

Harry, as always, simply saw an opportunity to make life even more fun.

Or, so everyone believed.

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><p><strong>AN: Please review and tell me what you thought! This is the end for now but if there are any scenes anyone would like to see in this universe please tell me. While I make no promises I would love to explore these characters more so inspiration will be wholeheartedly welcomed. Thanks for reading!<strong>


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